Bautista Agut conquers Qatar

ROBERTO Bautista Agut of Spain lifts the trophy after winning the ATP Qatar Open tennis finals match over Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic in Doha. AFP

DOHA, Qatar — Roberto Bautista Agut followed up his shock victory over world number one Novak Djokovic by lifting the Qatar Open title on Saturday.

The Spaniard ground out a hard-fought victory in three sets against the Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych, winning 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the finals.

“It’s been a fantastic week for me,” he said immediately after his triumph.

“Today it was not easy to manage all the emotions I had on court.”

It was the 30-year-old’s ninth career title and his first in Doha.

Bautista Agut will rise one place in the world rankings to 23 on the back of the victory in Qatar and said his aim was to go higher.

“Why can I not be close to the top 10?” he asked afterwards.

He added that his immediate aim was to “be fresh” and then win as many matches “as I can” in Melbourne at the Australian Open.

The victory came 24 hours after he beat Djokovic in the semifinals, also in three sets.